The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of New Guinea Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and hereinafter referred to by the name Tamar Orange.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program Inventor in Maasland, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new Impatiens cultivars with uniform plant habit and attractive flower and foliage colors.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross made by the Inventor in 1997 of the Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Prepona, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,150, as the male, or pollen parent, with the Inventor""s proprietary Impatiens hawkeri selection code No. 944206, not patented, as the female, or seed parent. The cultivar Tamar Orange was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Maasland, The Netherlands in 1997.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in Maasland, The Netherlands, has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Tamar Orangexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Tamar Orangexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Impatiens cultivar:
1. Large intense orange-colored flowers.
2. Freely flowering habit with flowers positioned above or beyond the foliage.
3. Upright, somewhat outwardly spreading, rounded, uniform and compact plant habit.
4. Freey branching growth habit.
5. Dark green leaves.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Maasland, The Netherlands, plants of the new Impatiens differ from plants of the male parent, the cultivar Prepona, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens are more uniform in growth habit than plants of the cultivar Prepona.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens have slightly smaller flowers than plants of the cultivar Prepona.
3. Flower color of plants of the new Impatiens is more orange than flower color of plants of the cultivar Prepona.
Plants of the new Impatiens can be compared to plants of the cultivar Timor, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,144. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Maasland, The Netherlands, plants of the new Impatiens are more uniform in plant habit and have larger flowers than plants of the cultivar Timor.